giant squid

[donnacabo]

Hey I took out a client diving two days ago and a group of 5 squid came right up to me.....right at neptunes finger....I offered my alternate air and it wanted to take it...It was so exciting...then with it's tenacles out I let out a scream...I must've scared it as it ran off and showed me it's colors...I have never experienced anything so exciting.! Even the sharks aren't as fun as these guys...
any commnets????
bajasurtours@yahoo.com

[stortecky]

Any pictures??? How large were they? I saw a large group about 20 or so diving by akumal last year. They were around 2 feet it was pretty cool.

[Scuba Diver Mexico]

These Humboldt squid (Dosidicus gigas) in the Gulf of Califonia (aka Sea of Cortez) are really amazing animals and fierce top predators!!

Humboldt Squid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dosidicus_gigas)

humboldt squid - Búsqueda de imágenes de Google (http://images.google.es/images?sourceid=navclient&hl=es&rlz=1T4HPNN_esMX316MX316&q=humboldt+squid&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=rDfWSc6vM5LKMvmuzIAP&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&resnum=4&ct=title)

They are the most widely fished squid species in Mexico and you can find their meat in every supermarket (it is a very affordale source of protein). Look closely at the sucker cups on their tentacles when you buy fish next time !!


I had an amazing experience with a group of them while on scuba at depth (180-200 ft on He mix, so I can rememeber all !) . It was in Cabo San Lucas while I was working as volunteer safety diver for an AIDA free diving tournament a few years back. They showed up and started flashing their colors, I could not leave since I was expecting some competitors in the following moments. Later I came up to the next depth (150 ft or so) and they began going after the heavy weight holding the down line which was painted in bright white.

Another great experience with them (this time in a submersible) happened last year in the waters of the Loreto park. During the day they showed up at about 200 ft of depth on almost every dive and followed us all they way down to 400 ft or so. In one dive they finished up a shool of smaller bait fish in 20 min or so at a depth of around 380 ft. Amazing to watch from the safety and comfort of the acrylic bubble !!

At night they came up to the surface.


YouTube - Loreto, BCS, MV Argo, Deep See Submersible, MV Destiny September 2008 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZCnRVXbNyM)



Cheers

[donnacabo]

My boyfriend remembers you guys here with your bubble....I don't know where I was that day...but he also did some work with Pippin many years ago and he just finished with National Geographic. Perhaps your paths have crossed at some point.
Yes I offered my alternate which hose is bright yellow as well as the regulator and the booger wanted it......I then thought...****...what am I doing! lol

[donnacabo]

I didn't have a camera with me...darn it....but I will be ready next time...I was thinking night dive..but everyone said that's a bad idea....any thoughts?